"English teams are always very strong. It will be a very attractive game, we need to play to the best of our abilities. Arsenal are not favourites here, but we don't consider ourselves outright favourites.

"Arsenal are a strong team. The only guarantee we have is that we'll have two great teams playing two great games."

One Arsenal player knows just how hard the task ahead will be. Loanee Wojciech Szczesny was at the wrong end of a 6-1 thrashing at the Nou Camp last month as Luis Suarez and co ran riot.

A front three of Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar is formidable, but Arsenal will hope to get as many of their injured players back healthy in time for the February first leg to give themselves the best possible chance.

Dan Coombs

Dan Coombs has been writing for HITC Sport full time since 2012 and has helped the website grow it's audience considerably during this period, while managing a team of writers. He has interviewed high profile names including Stuart Pearce and his work has been cited in Javier Hernandez's biography. In addition to football, Dan is a big fan of the NFL and NBA.